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forms is being looked at with a cool pragmatic eye by such potential sponsors, but are we being equally cool and pragmatic? At the moment, as a matter of policy, we disallow tobacco advertising and sponsorship, but quite frankly, non-smoker myself, I have never felt the urge to start smoking just because a motor sport rally is sponsored by a tobacco company or because brand name signs are put up at the court side of a ball game.
Secondly, there is the capital expenditure side. We have many projects in recreation that have been stretched out over too many years because of lack of money, or lack of land, or both. Some of these are large and comprehensive projects that are potentially just as popular, promising and long lasting as Victoria Park, namely Kowloon Park and Victoria Barracks. Kowloon Park is a matter of money rather than land, because we do have the land already sitting there waiting for the best swimming and water facilities to be built on it. Victoria Barracks is a matter of land because it still hasn't been given to us for recreation yet despite the best parts being carved up already, and built on, for commercial use. Both of these are in prime, prominent areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong. I am sure the public would be grateful if we could find the white knights that could give us the resources to provide facilities for public enjoyment of these major green lungs in a concrete jungle.
Mr. Chairman, saving costs and increasing revenue, or sponsorship, is not just confined to Hygiene and Recreation. I would like to supplement the suggestion in the recent consultative document on hawker policy that licensing unlicensed hawkers may bring in more revenue and reduce or eliminate the deficit in hawker management, by saying that it still does not put the matter on an entirely commercial footing. Shopkeepers pay rates to pay for various aspects of city management, on top of that there is profits tax but hawkers pay no tax even if they are profitable. Is there any reason why profitable hawkers should ultimately be asked to cover the cost of administering them only? Recovery of hawker management cost is a commendable objective and a great achievement in itself. But the buck should not stop there. I think there is nothing wrong with looking even further ahead and having a longer term objective of the Urban Council obtaining revenue over and above pure hawker management costs from hawkers who run a profitable business. Some hawker areas are highly lucrative, some locations far superior than others, which means there is potential for exploring a market-value related fee structure. I leave this thought to Mrs. Tu's Working Party.
Implementation of the Joint Declaration
The Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong was signed just over a year ago, and over the past year, we have seen a number of areas where China and Britain have already taken steps to implement what they said they would do in the Joint Declaration. Firstly, the Land Commission has been set up and land has already been sold far beyond 1997. Secondly, Britain has made detailed proposals on the new form of Passport/Nationality. Thirdly, China has set up the Basic Law Drafting Committee and Basic Law Consultative Committee.
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I would only like to comment on the second and third events. As a result of the commitment made by Britain in the Joint Declaration, the Draft Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986 is due to be debated in the British Parliament this week. Over the past 3 months, much has been said by many people, including myself, on this topic in public discussions, and forums, in addition, it has been discussed in District Boards and Legislative Council. I think whatever can be said on the topic has already been said since October and I am glad that the open letter to British M.P.'s from LegCo Members published 10 days ago adequately covers two of my pet points, namely trouble free entry for legitimate business or tourism reasons to U.K. and recognition of the fate of Hong Kong's ethnic minorities who, unlike the majority of Hong Kong's population that have automatic claim to Chinese Nationality, might find themselves or their descendants stateless. In case Britain should try to make any more excuses to avoid discharging its responsibilities to Hong Kong people I would like to point out: the United States Consulate in Hong Kong has since last year started to issue visas of indefinite validity to many bona fide Hong Kong travellers, and this is free of charge. Doesn't this make the recent 20 per cent increase to £12 for a U.K. Entry Certificate look rather shameful? I would also point out that most of the people who have spoken out openly for a better deal on behalf of the ethnic minorities are not Indian, Pakistani or Portuguese, but in fact Chinese. This makes mockery of the excuse given to me by a British M.P. recently that to treat ethnic minorities differently would cause resentment amongst the Chinese population of Hong Kong.
Although the British National (Overseas) Passport is a U.K. travel document, like the way it takes two to Tango, the B.N.(O.) Passport takes two countries to make it meaningful, that is in addition to Britain issuing and selling the passport to third countries, it needs China's co-operation to allow the right of abode in Hong Kong to be clearly stated. I have also already said a lot on this in October which does not need repetition, but I hope this problem can be successfully solved by the next Joint Liaison Group meeting this Spring.
People not familiar with Hong Kong might wonder why we are so sensitive and concerned when discussing travel documents. I had the chance to mention to two of Mr. CHI Peng-fei's delegation recently that more than one third of Hong Kong's population already possess one form or another of a valid international travel document, and there are more than 1 million international departures from Hong Kong every year, which is why travel documents is a subject close to many people's hearts. As a comparison, I was informed that in the world's most developed travelling nation—the United States, less than 10 per cent of the population actually holds a passport! No wonder we call ourselves an international city.
As a result of the commitment made by China in the Joint Declaration, the Basic Law Drafting Committee and Basic Law Consultative Committee have been set up. The latter Committee consists entirely of Hong Kong people. Although this Committee will last for only about 5 years by which time the